


Alternate Histories

by kiragecko



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: AU - Background Swap, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Referenced Neglect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 23:00:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20415709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiragecko/pseuds/kiragecko
Summary: They've switched backstories. These are drabbles. Slice of life, if you're a Bat.





	Alternate Histories

Dick hangs up the phone, feeling more relaxed than he has in a while. It's not that the way he acts is unnatural, or a performance; he treasures getting to laugh with people, smiling and having them smile back. His enjoyment of life is as real as anyone else's, but it can still be tiring. Sometimes it's good to be able to fall back to his childhood's monotone, with friends that understand. The Titans are safe in a way no one else is, except, perhaps, for Alfred.

He turns around, and Tim is there. It doesn't surprise him anymore, Dick may be have trained from birth as an assassin, but no one's ever been trained like Tim.

“Did my being creepy bother you?”

It's always hard to read Tim, for all that Tim can read everyone.

“It's... beautiful.”

“That might not be the right word, Timmy.”

He grins at his little brother, and his arms twitch at his side. Tim notices, of course, and moves in easily for a hug. Dick was never hugged much as a child. He can't imagine Tim was either, though perhaps he was. Perhaps his dad, despite being a monster that makes Dick really wish he didn't promise Father he'd stop killing, gave him lots of hugs. Not all terrible parents are the same. Still, he doesn't think Tim got a lot of hugs, and is endlessly amazed and grateful that Tim can always tell when he wants one and is so willing to offer. Dick couldn't even tell, at the beginning.

“You...,” his little brother searches for the right words, “can kill so easily... but choose... love.”

“It ever bother you that I stopped?”

Tim's early memories are full of videos of Dick, before he joined his father and became Robin. Tim joined the family because he had considered little Dick (Richard al Ghul, Roy started calling him Dick, because Roy... is Roy. Dick is now proud of the name, like so many other things he received from his friends) a companion, possibly a friend. Dick has often wondered if Tim misses that person.

“You became better.”

No hesitation at all, no need to find words. Dick smiles with his whole body.

“Did not... want to be... him... Want to be Robin.”

* * *

Steph glares at the empty house. It's a practiced expression now, habitual. She left her Spoiler costume out for a week, once, just to prove a point. She's not sure what the point was.

It's not like the house is even empty very much, now a days. Dana's there a lot, and dad still has difficulty leaving, and both of them pretend to want to spend time with her. She could throw the costume away, give her dad another chance. It's not as if she WANTS to become like Tim, not really. He's kind of creepy, actually, even if his confusion about basic things is incredibly cute.

She could forgive her dad for making it so easy to become Spoiler, but she's not sure if she's going to. Batman doesn't even LIKE her, and sometimes he feels like he's more a father to her than her dad.

She makes another face at the house and heads off to see if she can find Robin. Its kind of adorable watching him pretend to read things when they're looking for clues.

* * *

Cass is sitting in her living-room when Babs gets there. The younger woman grins, cocky after successfully breaking in. Babs should tell her that she tripped a sensor climbing the building, but she can remember that pride. That need to prove herself. Babs never made it to the streets, but she still got the looks. The faint distaste that poverty seems to encourage.

So she just explains what's going on in the city tonight. Cass stretches and warms up as she listens, body finally close to the grace she needs to do this job (though Babs started with a homemade Halloween costume and the speed you need to avoid a parent who can get dangerous. She's not sure she has the right to judge, here).

“You think 'Wing will be visiting any time soon?”

That's the great thing about Cass. She has incredible confidence in herself, but she's still always looking for ways to improve.

“Actually, I asked Tim to teach you a few things. He needs practice socializing, and there's a lot you can learn from him.”

Cass grins.

“You do realize that my form of socializing usually involved punching people and running off with whatever I could carry, right?”

Babs waves a hand dismissively, wheeling to the computer to prepare for the evening.

“The language of violence, his mother tongue. You'll get along just fine.”

* * *

Even on his best day, Jason will never be able to beat his replacement. Oh, he's good, and he's gotten even better since Talia funded his training, but the kid is inhuman. Jason's had to accept that.

He stares at the gun he's taken from the dealer regretfully. He'd really like to use it. He can hear his parents' voices in his head, though. See the way his dad would have looked. His mom might have understood the urge, for all that she wouldn't have approved, but his dad would have been HEARTBROKEN. He throws it away, does a flip-kick to make sure the dealer stays down (he always gets more showy when he thinks of his parents), and grabs the explosives he had to drop to take care of this idiot. He might not be able to touch the kid Bruce replaced him with (really Bruce? Realize that normal humans aren't good enough for you? If you wanted freaky assassin kids so bad, why'd you even adopt me?) but he can still make a point.

Preferably with a bang.


End file.
